A memorial in Portland, Oregon, to commemorate the recent killing of two men on a train as they tried to protect women from racial abuse.
Photograph: Natalie Behring/Getty Images

Members of the Oath Keepers militia will attend an “alt-right”-hosted “free speech” rally in Portland, Oregon, on Sunday, according to the group’s leader. The rally is due to take place little more than a week after the deaths of two men who came to the aid of women being subject to racial abuse on a train in the city.

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In an atmosphere of heightened tension in Portland, and as the city’s mayor, Ted Wheeler, appealed for federal authorities to follow him in withholding permits for the rally, the chair of the city’s Republican party last week told the Guardian he was considering contacting groups like the Oath Keepers to provide security for party events.

Speaking on Saturday on his way to Oregon from his home in Montana, Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes said: “We’re going to protect free speech, the exact same thing we have been doing at the last seven events we’ve been to over the past few months.”

The Guardian contacted Rhodes about a Reddit post that claimed to reproduce the text of an email he sent to Oath Keeper members, advertising a Friday “webinar” that would discuss the Portland rally, a scheduled “anti-sharia” rally in Seattle next week, and “why we need to be at such events to protect free speech against terrorism”.

“That was not for public use,” Rhodes said. “Some asshole posted that.” But he confirmed the contents of the email: “Of course I said that, why not.”

Asked if he had been in touch with organizers of the Portland rally, Rhodes replied: “Of course. And also the Portland police, DHS [Department of Homeland Security], and everyone else, as always.”

The posted text of the email read: “The Portland PD PIO [Public Information Office], and also DHS let us know that the feds won’t allow any weaponsin the park, even for our cops. That sucks, but we will have to deal with it. And the ‘park’ includes the sidewalk in front of it.”

The rally is due to take place in Schrunk plaza, an area in downtown Portland with space for public performances and meetings.

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The email continued: “The Portland PD PIO also said that outside the park our retired cops can carry concealed under LEOSA [Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act], and people with a valid OR concealed carry can carry outside the park.”

PIO spokesman Sgt Peter Simpson said he was unaware of any conversation the Oath Keepers would have had with the police bureau.

Asked about the information Rhodes said he had been given, and whether it accurately reflected the legality of concealed carry in downtown Portland, Simpson said: “I have never spoken with one of these people. It appears that he is taking information I provided in interviews and turning it into a conversation.

“They did not speak with a Portland PIO. The law does not allow for guns in the federal park and city code does not allow for guns in parks unless there is a concealed handgun permit.”

On Sunday, Rhodes said he had spoken to a Sgt Niiya in the civil disturbance unit, which Sgt Simpson then confirmed.

We’re going to protect free speech, the exact same thing we have been doing at the last seven events we’ve been to

Stewart Wheeler, Oath Keepers

The email posted to Reddit also said Rhodes had been in contact with Multnomah County Republican party chairman James Buchal, who last week told the Guardian he was considering using groups such as the Oath Keepers and Three Percenters as security for public events.

Rhodes said: “I saw the Guardian article and I called him up to talk to him and let him know we’d be happy to do that and we’d do it for free. We’d be happy to do that.”

Asked if Buchal accepted, Rhodes said: “He thanked me. And we talked for a while about how stupid it was for the leftist press to be freaking out because we offered to protect them. I mean, that’s what we do.”

Buchal told the Guardian he “returned Mr Rhodes’ call, thanked him for his offer of assistance, and the matter remains under consideration. It is not in the nature of a political party, even a county sub-unit of one, to make decisions quickly.”

He added that he remained “baffled by the accusations of racism against this organization” and listed a series of the Oath Keepers bylaws, including one barring anyone who “advocates discrimination, violence, or hatred toward any person based upon their race, nationality, creed, or color”.

Earlier this week, in response to the Guardian story, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) wrote an open letter to Buchal.

“We think it is important for you to know that the Oath Keepers and Three Percenters are not benign ‘security forces’,” the ADL letter said. “They are, in our judgment, militia-style, anti-government extremist groups.”

Asked if he anticipated trouble at the event in Portland on Sunday, Rhodes said: “Well, we don’t know. But that’s the thing. Any time we do any kind of security operation like, you don’t know what’s going to happen. I’m pretty confident [Portland police] are going to handle it pretty well.”

Asked if any specific protesting or opposing groups concerned him, Rhodes referred to leftwing counter-protesters in the city when he said: “Yeah. Antifa. That’s their claim to fame, right. To go punch people in the face, and declare that they’re not going to let them hold events etc etc.”

Asked if his group would offer physical resistance to any attacks, Rhodes said: “You mean would we defend ourselves and other people? Yeah of course. But only against unlawful action. If I were on the train I would have defended people against the crazy knife guy as well.”

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Rhodes also said: “Part of the reason we go is to make sure people on our side don’t do anything stupid. It’s not just waiting to see if someone comes through a line, trying to hurt somebody.”

Rhodes also claimed to have offered protection to “a Florida counsel” who he said had received “death threats” in the course of bringing “their case against the DNC [Democratic National Committee]”.

“I let her know that we do that kind of protection, and if she needs help let us know. And she’s a Democrat, she’s a Bernie supporter. We’re bipartisan.”

Rhodes did not name the counsel in question. A Miami law firm, Beck and Lee, is suing the DNC over its treatment of Bernie Sanders during the Democratic primary last year.

The firm is run by a husband and wife team, Jared and Elizabeth Lee Beck. Jared Beck has used his Twitter account to demand closer investigation of the murder of a DNC staffer, Seth Rich, which has become the subject of rightwing conspiracy theories. Elizabeth Beck recently complained about death threats on Twitter. She did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In two statements issued later on Saturday, Rhodes said he had “pledged our unconditional support” to Buchal and confirmed that his group would be present at the rally on Sunday, “ready, willing, and able to effectively defend the rights of all present if there is any failure of the police to do so”.

On Sunday, Rose City Antifa, one of the groups organising to oppose the rally, said via email that: “The fact that the Oath Keepers feel the need to travel to our city, specifically calling out anti-fascist organizers as a threat, speaks volumes to their real intentions.

“The Oath Keepers will, as they have in Berkeley and other cities, continue to protect white supremacists while threatening the communities that stand to oppose racism and hatred.”